Bracknell Bees left battered, bruised and beaten following fierce encounter with Sheffield Steeldogs

Bees' Lewis Turner and opponent Tim Smith have to be separated on what was a frustrating night for the home side. (Image: Bob Swann)

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Radek Hubacek's third goal in as many games was the only positive for a Bracknell Bees side beaten by Sheffield Steeldogs on a bad tempered night at the Hive.

A evening where victory would have moved Lukas Smital's men to within two points of their south Yorkshire opponents will be remembered for the 137 minutes in penalties racked up by both teams during a highly-charged encounter.

The visitors' game plan to irritate and intimidate their hosts needed only 19 seconds to have the desired effect, with forward Ryan Watt ejected from proceedings following a slash on Callum Pattison which led to both players exchanging blows.

Watt was initially hit with a match penalty, but this was later reduced to a game, meaning he will be available for Thursday's Challenge Cup tie with the Wightlink Raiders.

Pattinson then clashed with Hubacek, picking up another penalty, but it was from the resulting powerplay where the away side took the lead, Jeff Legue driving a shot home via the ironwork from distance on 2.37.

More stoppages during an opening period which took almost an hour to complete saw Bees' Lewis Turner and Tim Smith square up, while an infuriated Smital had to sit out a 10 minute misconduct charge following words said to the match officials.

And it was while the player-coach watched on when his side created their best opportunities of the half to tie up the scores, but both Vanya Antonov and man-of-the-match Matt Towalski saw powerful efforts kept out by Dalibor Sedlar in the Sheffield goal.

However, the over-physical nature of the game was to rear its ugly head once more when Harvey Stead and Stano Lascek where handed one of countless roughing penalties having clashed in the corner.

Bracknell, though, fell further behind three minutes into the second session.

Working the puck out to the left, an unmarked Legue drove forward and doubled his – and the Steeldogs' – tally when sending a shot across Mettam from a tight angle which caught the netminder off guard.

The stanza had begun relatively peacefully, but that was ended abruptly when the heavy-handed approach from the away side resulted in James Galazzi and former Bee Ashley Calvert dropped the gloves after the latter had lashed out at Lewis Turner.

Both were subsequently told to take a seat in the bin.

More skirmishes broke out as the three officials struggled to keep a lid on the tempers within both sides.

Turner reacted angrily to a cheap shot by Greg Wood on team-mate Pavel Strycek and gloves, helmets and sticks were again dropped, with Pattison racing from the bench to join the fracas, only to be thrown out for his involvement.

This stoppage also saw opposite netminders Mettam and Sedlar make their way to the middle to trade punches, prompting raptus applause from all four corners of the rink.

A pumped-up Bracknell, though, who significantly out-shot their guests on the night, used their frustration to work a way back into the game on a powerplay, with Hubacek racing in to fire home on the rebound when shots from Smital and Antonov were blocked by Sedlar.

But the joy was shortlived, as just 46 seconds later Sheffield restored their two-goal advantage when Legue, having again drove down the left wing, fired high past Mettam to complete the hat-trick.

Bees, without Scott Spearing for the evening, leaving them with just seven forwards, continued to play the better hockey, but were unable to take any of the chances which came their way.

And they were dealt a sucker punch on 49.56 when Tom Squires finished off a quick break-away by the visitors to make it 4-1 and end the game as a contest.

A two-minute cross checking penalty handed to Lee Haywood late on presented the home side with a powerplay, with Smital choosing to sacrifice Mettam for a sixth skater.

However, things were to only get worse for Bees, as losing possession deep inside the Sheffield end zone resulted in Lloyd Gibson gleefully completing the simple task of stroking the puck into an empty net.

Bees host the Raiders on Thursday (8pm) ahead of successive away games in the EPIHL next weekend, travelling to Guildford Flames on Saturday (6pm), with Manchester Phoenix their hosts on Sunday (5.30pm).